Sebastopol, CA—Building
electronic projects that
interact with the physical
world is fun, but when your
homebrewed creations start
talking to each other,
things get really
interesting! In
Making Things Talk
(O'Reilly, $29.99), author
Tom Igoe bestows the power
of communication upon your
favorite tech creations
through simple projects that
present the guidelines for
electronic verbosity.
Whether its
microcontroller-powered
devices, email programs, or
networked databases, Igoe
demonstrates the ability of
electronics to interact in
fun and interesting ways.
Some
examples include:
-
The Pet
Lover: Want to play with
your pet while you're
away? Discover the
"Networked Cat Cam" and
the interactive pet bed
that sends you personal
emails!
-
It Takes
Two: Wire your favorite
stuffed animal and enjoy
a game of "Monski Pong."
Just be sure not to
lose!
-
Who's
Out There: Broadcast
messages to others on
your network; build a
battery–powered GPS that
reports its location
wirelessly; send data
across the Web based on
physical activity in
your home, office, or
backyard.
-
Three
Easy Steps: Set up
communication between
microcontrollers,
personal computers, and
web servers using three
easy-to-program, open
source environments:
Arduino/Wiring,
Processing, and PHP.
Arriving in
bookstores October 15th and
available online today at
www.store.makezine.com,
Making Things Talk is
perfect for diehard
"techies," but also serves
as the perfect primer for
people with little technical
training, but a lot of
interest. "The workbenches
of hobbyists, hackers, and
makers have become overrun
with
microcontrollers—computers-on-a-chip
that power homebrewed video
games, robots, toys and
more," explains Igoe. "This
book contains a series of
projects that teach readers
what they need to know to
get their creations talking
to each other, connecting to
the web and forming networks
of smart devices."
Tom Igoe teaches courses
in physical computing and
networking at the
Interactive
Telecommunications Program
in the Tisch School of the
Arts at New York University.
He is co-author of the book
Physical Computing: Sensing
and Controlling the Physical
World with Computers, which
has been adopted by numerous
digital art and design
schools around the world.
Additional Resources:
For more information about
the book, including table of
contents, index, author
bios, and cover graphic,
see:
http://www.oreilly/catalog/9780596510510
Making Things Talk
Tom Igoe
ISBN: 0-596-51051-9, 428
pages,
$29.99 USD, £18.50 GBP
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
